Brownies and Friends: A Cautionary Tale

So you know what they say…the road to hell is paved with good intentions. That and mini marshmallows.


I wanted to surprise my friends here at FOX19 today with a sweet treat: s’more brownies. I found the recipe at Food Network.com. It seemed simple enough: make a graham cracker crust, whip up a brownie mix (I used Ghirardelli) and pop it in the oven. Okay, I got all this. The problem came when it was time to add the marshmallows on top. The recipe called for 6 minutes on low under the broiler, but cautioned to watch the marshmallows. After 4 minutes I thought, well, I can go and pick out my necklace for tomorrow. What could happen in a couple minutes?

Brownie disaster, apparently. The marshmallows caught fire! I ruined my dessert and was left fanning smoke out of my apartment with a rag. The moral of this story? Don’t treat any recipe like it’s easy when it involves an oven, and have a high-quality fire extinguisher right in the kitchen.

Just kidding  This all got me thinking, what’s important isn’t how well you bake for your friends, but that you have them to laugh with after an epic kitchen fail. I am so blessed to work here at FOX19. We mean it when we say this is a family, which makes it bittersweet when one of our young guys in production leaves for another station!

Today is the delightful Kenny Baker’s last day at FOX19. He leaves us for sunny Myrtle Beach, where he will put his Pepsodent smile to work at WMBF-TV as a reporter and producer. He makes me laugh every 5 minutes and is an absolute pleasure to everyone who works with him. Although I wish him well, I wish he could stay on a bit longer to make me giggle behind the camera. Who knows, you might be seeing him back here soon as an anchor!

So this is a cautionary tale: be vigilant with sugary baked goods, and don’t work at FOX19 unless you want to meet some extraordinary people.  Happy Friday!

- Stephanie